eye-witnesses. This is enough about big trees. After all, they do not deserve, among so many other mirabilia Dei, more than a little exclamation point -!
The distance covered from New York to San Francisco. by the Aspinwall and Panama route, is 6,850 miles. Some Boo miles more and we are at the mouth of the Columbia; there I will resume my narrative.
On the loth of October, 1858, I left San Francisco for the mouth of the Columbia. We passed within sight of Cape Mendocino, the westernmost point of the United
States, and skirted the coast of Oregon. On the 23d we passed over the dangerous bar of the Columbia, which I
had crossed for the first time in 1844. A large and handsome light-house has been erected on Cape Disappointment.
since the advent of civilization. The savages, formerly so numerous along the coast and the river, have almost en tirely disappeared. Every approach of the whites thrusts them back, by force or otherwise; they go upon reservations, in a strange land, far removed from their hunting and fishing grounds, and where drink, misery and diseases of every sort mow them down by hundreds.
Since the whites have taken possession of the Indian lands, great changes have taken place throughout the country. The Willamette valley has changed its aspect entirely. They now have there a great number of towns and villages, rich and beautiful farms, with vast apple orchards. They raise apples of an extraordinary size and beauty. Barley, wheat and oats do very well here, and vegetables of every sort likewise.
I will mention in passing the towns and villages that are seen on both banks in going up the Columbia river; a great many others will rise before long, as new settlers come in. After passing the bar of the Columbia, behind Cape Disappointment, a large bay appears on the left, on the Washing